Less than 48 hours after recording the program’s first ever victory in the NCAA Tournament, the UCF men’s basketball team ended their historic season after an unforgettable battle against the No. 1 team in the nation and perennial powerhouse Duke.<\/p>\n
Trailing 77-76, the Knights had two good looks at the hoop in the final seconds when senior guard BJ Taylor ’18<\/strong> drove toward the basket and tried to bank his attempt. Redshirt junior forward Aubrey Dawkins ’18<\/strong> tipped Taylor’s miss, but both shots rimmed out, allowing the Blue Devils to escape to the next round.<\/p>\n “We left it all out there. We played as hard as we could. I think we showed a lot of people across the country that we were a serious basketball team and that we really could play with anybody,” Taylor said in the postgame press conference. “I know coming into this game a lot of people had us losing by 15-plus to these guys, and they’re a great team. Like coach said, they fought and played extremely hard, but I think we represented UCF as best we could. I think we did everything we could to win that game. It just came down to a couple plays.”<\/p>\n UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins gave an emotional speech in the locker room to the Knights, who finished the year with 24 victories, just one victory shy of the program\u2019s Division I record for victories in a season, set in 2003-04.<\/p>\n